I don't agree with the answer given, but here is the result of a BBC poll: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/events/millennium/nov/winner.stm I personally would have said Boadicea (Boudicca) deserves to be there. She may have been a savage by Roman standards, but she suffered a public flogging and was forced to watch her own daughters being raped for her beliefs. Her place in history is cemented by her uprising after this, where she destroyed London and Colchester (where my ex-wife lives) before being killed.

Eve.

Seeking attention, aye lady fuschia ?

A couple of my candidates: Marie Curie, for her contributions to the way we understand matter and energy, the discovery of radium, and her contributions to medical science. She was a physicist in a time when women weren't considered competent to be in that field. Ayn Rand, for her introduction of objectivism, her writing skill, and her personal adherence to the philosophical tenets she put forth. She was a courageous woman.

Oprah Winfrey, cause she over came so many things and can still hold her head up with pride.

This one has bugged me all day. I'm pretty quick to rattle off 100-word biogs of the great and the good when they are men, but I'm embarrassed at the lack of 'great' women who come to mind. I guess Cleopatra, Katherine the Great, and Queen Victoria should probably all feature, but I can't honestly say I'm inspired by their achievements. There's really only one woman whose achievement make me feel humbled and I can't tell you her name because I don't know it. She was a black South African I met while at university. I only met her once, introduced in the Union Bar one evening, but her story was astounding. She had been a teacher in South Africa during the apartheid era. Not a member of the ANC, but a teacher whose views became unacceptable to the local authorities. When they told her to stop teaching the children what they thought was propaganda, she refused because she thought of it as the truth and nothing less. She and her husband were intimidated by the authorities, but she refused to yield. But then he got more vocal and active in opposition and the authorities got nasty. I remember her telling about other children (not her own) receiving parcels through the post that were poisoned, or had razor blades in them. She started to be subject to nasty, vicious threats and her husband was beaten up by unknown assailants. Eventually they started to fear for their lives and decided to leave the country. Before they could do so, the husband was arrested. She never saw him again and believed him dead. She avoided being arrested because she arrived back at her home when the police were raiding the place. She took her children and fled for the border, travelling at night on trains and buses and so on until she reached territory near the border with (I think) Namibia. South Africa was virtually at war with Namibia at that time, so walking through that region was incredibly dangerous. She couldn't cross the border at a normal crossing because they’d have arrested her so she had to walk, at night, through a minefield, along a border fence to find a way through. She managed this and carried her two children, walking for two days to safety. There were other moments of extreme danger, but I forget the details. Once in a safe country, but without friends or assistance she had to work for a year living on next to nothing, contacting relatives and saving every penny she could to get enough money to pay the fare to get to the UK. Once here, she set about finding funding for her own education so she could work to bring her children up. She had untold battles with the authorities just to obtain the right to stay and get an education. I seem to remember that she simply adored Ken Livingston (now Mayor of London) for the help he (or his offices) gave her on arrival in the UK. She told her story without drama, with self-deprecation and modesty. She joked as quickly as she could, showed no bitterness and dismissed each hurdle she had overcome with astonishing nonchalance. I was inspired-instantly and irreversibly-by the strength she gained from dedication to her children, by her self-sacrifice, her utter determination and her self-confidence. She might not be the greatest woman who ever lived; but she was surely the greatest woman I ever met.

My Mom! :D

Boudica!

Rosa Parks is inspiration to me:)

The one who used to let me have a slate at the off licence

The safe answer, if you are a man, is your wife. There have been many, many, many great women, most of whom have been forgotten.

The woman who worked hard raising her family, probably in poverty, taking care of children, tending a garden or animals, cooking meals, making clothes, who supported her husband and the whole family through hard times and fertile times. The woman who made a difference in the lives of her family, and all those following generations, close to home, is greatest.

I'd say Susan B. Anthony for her getting women the right to vote and thereby taking such a profound step towards gender equality/fairness. Rosa Parks for the courage that she showed in the moment when she singlehandedly defied racist tyranny.

Me. I am a genius. I spend every moment of every day just trying to make myself happy. Because I am truley happy everyone around me is happier and I make other people's lives sunny. I have many animals whose lives have been completly turned around because I took them under my wing. Many boys too. I know other women have done the same and better, but in my world, I ROCK! Self love may seem selfish I know, so roll your eyes if u want but I need to write a book. Yes.

If this is a serious question and related to historical people, it seems to me the only woman of whom we have detailed information who scales up to the standard is Katherine the Great of Russia. Figure that the daughter of the County Chairman of the smallest county near you marries an up and coming official in another country who does not speak her breast tongue. This naive lost child makes her way and becomes President of the USA, consolidates Canada, Eastern Russia, Central America and all the Caribbean, and half of South America into one USA. Does this whilst demonstrating a libido as strong as any man in history. And leave a unified powerhouse of a country. Katherine, no question about it.

Mother Theresa and Princess Diana

Every woman is.

Eve

Seeing this is in the past tense I'll have to say my mom.

The one that recently carded me.

Mary the mother of God. She is the Lamb without blemish, the innocent Lamb. She is blessed and she believed in the word of the Lord. She is by far the greatest women that ever lived! Blessed among all women:)

MY MOTHER!!!

Mary, mother of Jesus.

Ru Paul..............

Ada Byron Lovelace, founder of scientific computing. She was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron and friend to Charles Babbage the inventor of the difference engine. In her work with Babbage she developed what was essentially the first vision of a modern computer. She is often seen as the world's first computer programmer.

Stevie Nicks

Keiana Shalequia Graves! I met her once in Europe, I got a phone call the fallowing year from I believe it was her younger sister thaat said that she had died in a car accident and the police killed ehr! But she was great - She Performed this piece of a duo piece ( Her Portion) called "IF I could Take on the Weight of the world" and she just launched a diatribe at American's Governmental failures and its phony infrastructures - Teaching also the Universal laws and how the greatest people are the happiest ppl as well as the most low down because they have the greatest stories of survival, how they overcome with Strength and Incredible Human thought, How they could help the rich strive and survive when their world is upset by the loss of 25% of their income and how income is not what makes one great, She tuaght us in that piece how we created our own reality, How if we could just conceive and will for our desires with a positive mindset We can attract everything we desire but if she could take on the weight of the world how she wouldn't save the world but let it fall and only those who truly are standing will remain standing and How the only thing we need in life is a positive Mindframe and from that we have the world. SHe talked about how people say they want something but do absolutely little to nothing about it, let alone Will it and believe they can get it, but if you actually networked and believed you can do it, You can get it, She also shared with us Photos of her feeding, clothing and sheltering People in every city in the world, She taught us Substantial law which is the same thing as the law of attraction except that you embody the How you're going to get what you desire and that the only thing missing is the only thing you didn't give, so in order to receive it you must give it, In order to believe it, You must live it. She then gave all 10,000 people in the audience a 10,000$ Check a piece and fed each one of us Vegetarian meals answering all of our questions and taking every last one of our names and numbers offering us follow up service, she was one of the greatest philanthropists of all times, though her name unsung, far surpassing Bill Gates and that Buffet Dude and the carnegies and the rockefellers. Incredible Human Mind strength, WHo talked with her thoughts and her Very Vibrations - Keiana Shalequia Graves To Me was By far one of the greatest women who ever lived!!! chek out her only lasting website at keianashalequiagraves.webs.com I heard her father Eric Dwayne Alexander Graves literally destroyed her name from all Public Records and documents and websites after her death : Citing "My Daughter did what she was going to do, she lived and she died, now let her rest with the rest of the dead" I call Keiana, Keiana Shalequia Great!!!

me...duh jk umm let's see there are many Harriot Tubman Eleanor Rosevelt Valentina Tereshkova Virgin Mary Susan B. Anthony Amelia Air heart Elizabeth Blackwell Agnodice Maria Montessori just to name a few. I don't think that there really can be a "greatest" woman. So many different women have accomplished different things. There achievements are not comparable.

My mother. Don't argue :)

Margaret Sanger

mother teresa comes to mind.

My Mother. She's ALWAYS there for me.

Either Shortqueen or icysilver. Brownie points? Lol. In all seriousness, probably my mom.

i think it's the virgin mary :)